Coming To Grips
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Years ago when I was going through seminary- along with going to school I also worked as a security guard to help pay for my education. It was an awful schedule. I was working third shift, then going directly to school in the morning and then sleeping during the afternoon. So I would go to work at 10:30 at night and work until 6:30 in the morning. Then drive to school and typically be in class from 8 - noon. Then go home and sleep from 1 -9. Then get up and do it all over again. It was exhausting. And I can tell you many times there I was at 3 a.m. in a dark building sitting at the security desk all alone and there was soft classical music playing in the background in the lobby of the building and it was like wagging a war against my eyelids. It was an effort to stay awake. One of the things that helped me stay awake was the knowledge that at any time on any night my supervisor could show up for a surprise visit. You knew they were coming, but not exactly when. So, you always had to be ready. Because the worst thing was for you to be surprised at their arrival. It was not a desirable outcome to be caught off guard and unprepared. You did not want that to happen. And so you had to stay awake you had to stay vigilant. You did not want to be surprised.
This is the message that Paul communicated to the believers in Thessalonica. He does not want them to be surprised when Jesus Christ comes back one day. Because no man knows the hour, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Jesus may come back to rapture His church at any moment. Beloved, we must be living in readiness for the moment when Jesus suddenly raptures us to be with him in the air. That is the point of this paragraph. Be sober not surprised for the coming day of the Lord.
Remember Palm Sunday- it is the day we normally remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and what did the people of Jerusalem do?
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Now as I compared the Palm Sunday passage with our passage in I Thessalonians 5 about the coming rapture- the key idea that connected them together was the idea of being surprised. Were the Jews surprised by the triumphal entry of Jesus on Palm Sunday? Well, they worshiped Jesus right? They cried out Hosanna in the highest! But were they really ready? As I thought about it I decided, NO, they were not ready at all. Because in just a few short hours the same people that cried Hosanna cried CRUCIFY! The Jews were not ready for Jesus- they were surprised by His coming.
Today I say that we should not make the same mistake. We shouldn’t pretend to worship and then be surprised when he comes back. We must come to grips with the truth of the certainty of His return.
Scripture Reading:
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Proposition: Every person should come to grips with the coming Day of the Lord
Transition:There are 3 declarations that Paul makes in this section of Scripture today. The first is,
You Must Come to Grips With The Certainty of The Day of the Lord- Vs 1-3
Exposition:
Some believe that the Day of the Lord includes the rapture, tribulation and judgement.
Here Paul gives us some great illustrations about the certainty of the coming day:
First he says it comes like a thief in the night
Then he says there will be a false sense of security
Finally there is labor pains or like labor pains. She knows it is coming she just doesn’t know when.
Illustration:
I think of a tornado: There are signs and warnings but then there is this quietness and all of the sudden there it is coming for you.
You had the option to seek shelter and refuge
Application:
You can’t escape it. It is coming
With the pretrib view those who are lost will be left behind to go through the tribulation period. Those who are raptured will be blessed.
With the post trib view this is the day of judgement. Eternal separation.
Transition: The first declaration is the certainty of it, the second declaration he makes is
You Must Come to Grips With The Behavior Expected of a Christian- Vs 4-7
Exposition-
The darkness- lost, unaware of God’s love and promises
children of light- You are one of God’s children
Sleep is not the same as death in this section of scripture. Here it means spiritual lethargy and insensitivity
Here we find an expression used in Ephesians and also in Isaiah, the breastplate, and the helmet. Paul uses the picture of a soldier, which in view of today’s world, we too are soldiers in God’s army.
Illustration
Application- So as we wait for the coming day, we must come to grips that God expects you to behave a certain way:
Be spiritually sober and vigilant
Not asleep and spiritually drunk- meaning not in control of our bodies and desires. Or to be in a fog.
Unbelievers are neither awake nor alert to these spiritual realities. Rather they are asleep and controlled by forces outside themselves—like those who are drunk—which render them unable to respond as they should. These are the normal characteristics of those who live in the sphere of night.
You as Christians will do well to remember what the breastplate of faith and love represent: They guarded all the vital organs. That’s what faith and love do.
Faith in God protects inwardly and love for people protects outwardly. These tow graces can’t be separated: if you believe in God then you will love other people. These attitudes will equip you to stand ready for the the Day of the Lord.
The hope of salvation as a helmet: This isn’t just a wishful longing that someday you might be saved eternally.
This is a sure hope. It is a certainty, and the helmet protects your thinking and attacks on your head to think otherwise.
Transition: So you must come to grips with the certainty of the day, and the second is the behavior expected, the final declaration is
You Must Come to Grips With the Promise of God- Vs 9-11
Exposition-
Many commentaries like to point to the tribulation period here, that we should not go through it because of God’s great love for His children. Let me remind you that he sent His only son to die on your cross for your sins. What makes us any better than Him. Nothing!
It is my opinion that the wrath that is spoke of here is the wrath of eternal damnation and separation in Hell.
Hell was not made for you and me, it was designed for Satan and his demons.
God never intended on His children to spend a day in Hell, instead we are to obtain salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ!
He also tells us to comfort and edify one another.
Illustration- All of these promises can be trusted on because of what verse 10 says: he died for us, not killed, he laid down his life for us for the forgiveness of sin. The certainty of the death and resurrection gives us the certainty of the promise that God will one day dry the tears from our eyes personally
Application-
Let me be clear, the choice you make will determine your place in eternity.
As a Christian you are to comfort and build each other up.
As we see the day approaching because we are spritually awake and watching, our hearts should be burning with the desire to see the lost come to know Christ, the saved to live accordingly and to help one another grow in their walk with the Lord.